"Teen users are at significantly higher risk of developing an addictive disorder compared to adults, and the earlier they began using, the higher their risk. Nine out of 10 people who meet the clinical criteria for substance use disorders involving nicotine, alcohol or other drugs began smoking, drinking or using other drugs before they turned 18. People who begin using any addictive substance before age 15 are six and a half times as likely to develop a substance use disorder as those who delay use until age 21 or older (28.1 percent vs. 4.3 percent)."

"The teen brain is a work in progress, making it more vulnerable than the mature brain to the physical effects of drugs. The potential for developing substance abuse and dependence is substantially greater when an individual’s first exposure to alcohol, nicotine and illicit drugs occurs during adolescence than in adulthood."

Steinberg, L., Distinguished University Professor and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Temple University and author of "You and Your Adolescent: The Essential guide for ages 10 to 25" (personal communication, June 9, 2011), as quoted in "Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Public Health Problem," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, June 2011), p. 13.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

" Substantial differences were found in perceived availability of the various drugs. In general, the more widely used drugs are reported to be available by higher proportions of the age group, as would be expected (see Tables 9-6, 9-7, and 9-8). Also, older age groups generally perceive drugs to be more available. For example, in 2015, 37% of 8th graders said marijuana would be fairly easy or very easy to get (which we refer to as “readily available”), versus 66% of 10th graders and 80% of 12th graders. In fact, compared to 8th graders, the proportions of 12th graders indicating that drugs are available to them are two to four times as high for other illicit drugs included in the study. (On the other hand, 8th graders are a little less likely to report tranquilizers as available.) Both associations are consistent with the notion that availability is largely attained through friendship circles. (A section in Chapter 10 documents where 12th graders obtain prescription drugs that are not medically prescribed, and friends clearly are the leading source.) The differences among age groups may also reflect less willingness and/or motivation on the part of those who deal drugs to establish contact with younger adolescents. Because many inhalants—such as glues, butane, and aerosols—are universally available, we do not ask about their availability.
" Measures on the availability of cigarettes are not included in the 12th-grade questionnaires because we have assumed that they are almost universally available to this age group. However, data on this measure are collected from 8th and 10th graders, which clearly show that most perceive cigarettes to be readily available. In 2015, 47% of 8th graders and 67% of 10th graders thought that cigarettes would be fairly easy or very easy for them to get if they wanted some.
" The great majority of teens also see alcohol as readily available: In 2015, 54% of 8th graders, 75% of 10th graders, and 87% of 12th graders said it would be fairly easy or very easy to get."

"The vast majority of 12th graders disapprove of regular use of any of the illicit drugs (see Table 8-6). Among 2015 12th graders, 71% disapprove (including strongly disapprove) of regular marijuana use and between 92% and 96% disapprove of regular use of each of the other illicit drugs. (Regular steroid use meets with an 88% disapproval rate.)
" For each of the drugs included in this set of questions, fewer respondents indicate disapproval of experimental or occasional use than of regular use. However, the differences are not great for the use of illicit drugs other than marijuana, because nearly all 12th graders disapprove of even experimenting with them. For example, the proportions disapproving of experimental use are 94% for heroin; 89% for cocaine; 90% for crack; 87% for sedatives (barbiturates); 86% for cocaine powder; 82% for LSD; and 85% for ecstasy (MDMA). The extent of disapproval of illicit drug use by peers is no doubt underestimated by adolescents and, as we have written for some time, the extent of disapproval that actually does exist could be widely publicized and provide the basis for some potentially powerful prevention messages in the form of normative education.10
" For marijuana, the rate of disapproval varies substantially for different usage levels, although not as much as it has in the past. Disapproval for this drug is really quite high. About half of all seniors (46%) disapprove of even trying marijuana once or twice, about three of five (53%) disapprove of its occasional use, and three of four (71%) disapprove of regular use. Looked at another way, only about one quarter of 12th graders (29%) say they don’t disapprove of regular marijuana use."

"Concerns about laws and policy measures that may inadvertently affect youth drug use merit careful consideration. Our study does not show evidence of a clear relationship between legalization of marijuana for medical purposes and youth drug use for any age group, which may provide some reassurance to policymakers who wish to balance compassion for individuals who have been unable to find relief from conventional medical therapies with the safety and well-being of youth. Further research is required to track the trends in marijuana use among adolescents, particularly with respect to different types of marijuana laws and implementation of laws in each state."

" One indication of the proportion of people who try a drug but do not continue to use it can be derived from calculating the percentage of those who ever used a drug (once or more) but did not use it in the 12 months preceding the survey.38 We use the word 'noncontinuation' rather than 'discontinuation' because the latter might imply discontinuing an established pattern of use, whereas our current operational definition includes noncontinuation by experimental users as well as established users. Figure 4-3 provides these noncontinuation rates for most drug classes and all three grades in 2013; drugs are ordered from lowest to highest rates among 12th graders. This figure shows that noncontinuation rates vary widely Among 12th graders, the highest noncontinuation rate is observed for inhalants (64%), followed by heroin without a needle (51%). Many inhalants are used primarily at a younger age, and use is often not continued into 12th grade. The rank ordering for noncontinuation of other drugs is as follows: LSD, ecstasy (MDMA), crystal methamphetamine (ice), cocaine powder, and heroin in general (all between 43–45%); cocaine in general, crack, hallucinogens other than LSD, hallucinogens (adjusted), tranquilizers, and methamphetamine (all between 39% and 42%); and narcotics other than heroin, sedatives (barbiturates), steroids, and amphetamines (all between 29% and 36%).
" The drugs least likely to have been discontinued include cigarettes (21%), marijuana (20%), being drunk (17%), smokeless tobacco (15%), and alcohol (9%). Note that several psychotherapeutic drugs are among those least likely to have their use discontinued. It is important to recognize, however, that substantial proportions of students who try the various illicit drugs do not continue use, even into later adolescence. (Note: Use of heroin with a needle and PCP are not included due to the very low case counts.)
" Because a relatively high proportion of marijuana users continue to use marijuana at some level over an extended period (as is documented further in Chapter 10), it has consistently had one of the lowest noncontinuation rates in the senior year of any of the illicit drugs (20% in 2013). It is noteworthy that, of all the 12th graders who have ever used crack (1.8%), only about one third (0.6%) report current use and 0.1% of the total sample report current daily use. While there is no question that crack is highly addictive, evidence from MTF has consistently suggested that it is not addictive on the first use, as was often alleged.
" In contrast to illicit drugs, noncontinuation rates for the two licit drugs are extremely low. Alcohol, tried by the great majority of 12th graders (68%), is still used in the senior year by nearly all who have ever tried it (62% of all 12th graders), yielding a noncontinuation rate for alcohol of only 9%.
" Noncontinuation had to be defined differently for cigarettes because respondents are not asked to report on their cigarette use in the past year. The noncontinuation rate is thus defined as the percentage of those who say they ever smoked 'regularly' and who also reported no smoking at all during the past 30 days. Of the 12th graders who said they were ever regular smokers, only 21% have ceased active use."

"It is important to note that, contrary to alcohol, benzodiazepines and nicotine, opioids do not have teratogenic potential (3). Thus, special attention needs to be paid to dependence and abuse of legal substances and prescription drugs that can have severe consequences for the foetus and newborn, such as foetal developmental disorders or sudden infant death syndrome (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Center for Excellence, 2013; McDonnell-Naughton et al., 2012)."

" Youths aged 12 to 17 in 2012 who perceived that it was easy to obtain specific illicit drugs were more likely to be past month users of those illicit drugs than were youths who perceived that obtaining specific illicit drugs would be fairly difficult, very difficult, or probably impossible. For example, 17.4 percent of youths who reported that marijuana would be easy to obtain were past month illicit drug users, but only 2.9 percent of those who thought marijuana would be more difficult to obtain were past month users. Similarly, 14.4 percent of youths who reported that marijuana would be easy to obtain were past month marijuana users, but only 1.1 percent of those who thought marijuana would be more difficult to obtain were past month users.
" The percentage of youths who reported that marijuana, cocaine, crack, heroin, and LSD would be easy to obtain increased with age in 2012. For instance, 19.5 percent of those aged 12 or 13 said it would be fairly or very easy to obtain marijuana compared with 50.1 percent of those aged 14 or 15 and 71.0 percent of those aged 16 or 17.
" In 2012, 13.2 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 indicated that they had been approached by someone selling drugs in the past month. This rate declined between 2002 (16.7 percent) and 2012, although the 2012 rate was similar to the 2011 rate (13.8 percent)."

"Marijuana, the most widely used of the illicit drugs, did not show any significant change in annual prevalence this year in any of the three grades, nor in the three grades combined. After rising for several years, the annual prevalence of marijuana has more or less leveled out since about 2010.
"This year, 12 percent of 8th ­graders, 25 percent of 10th ­graders and 35 percent of 12th ­graders reported using marijuana at least once in the prior 12 months. Of more importance, perhaps, is their daily or near-­daily marijuana use (defined as smoking marijuana on 20 or more occasions in the past 30 days). These rates stand at 1.1 percent, 3.0 percent and 6.0 percent in 8th, 10th and 12th grades, respectively.
"In other words, one in every 16 or 17 high school seniors is smoking marijuana daily or near daily. These rates have changed rather little since 2010, but are from three-­to-­six times higher than they were at their low point in 1991.
"'The proportion of our young people smoking marijuana this frequently remains a matter of concern,' Johnston said.[2],[3]
"He notes that the percent of students who see regular marijuana use as carrying a great risk of harm has declined substantially since about 2005, and is still declining. Over the past 10 years, the percent seeing a great risk in regular marijuana use has fallen among 8th ­graders from 74 percent to 58 percent, among 10th ­graders from 66 percent to 43 percent and among 12th­graders from 58 percent to 32 percent."

"Ever since the MTF study began in 1975, between 81% and 90% of 12th graders each year have said that they could get marijuana fairly easily or very easily if they wanted some. It has been considerably less accessible to younger adolescents. Still, in 2012, 37% of 8th graders, 69% of 10th graders, and 82% of 12th graders reported it as being fairly or very easy to get. It thus seems clear that marijuana has remained highly accessible to the older teens."

"Perceived availability of alcohol, which until 1999 was asked only of 8th and 10th graders, was very high and mostly steady in the 1990s. Since 1996, however, there have been significant declines in 8th and 10th grades. For 12th grade, availability has declined only modestly with 91% still saying that it would be fairly easy or very easy to get alcohol. In 2012 the drop in availability halted in the upper grades. Overall, it appears that states, communities, and parents have been successful in reducing access to alcohol among the younger teens."

"After holding fairly steady at very high levels for some years, the availability of cigarettes to 8th and 10th graders began to decline modestly after 1996, very likely as a result of increased enforcement of laws prohibiting sale to minors under the Synar Amendment and FDA regulations. Those declines continued among 8th graders, including a significant decrease in 2009; the proportion saying that they could get cigarettes fairly or very easily fell from 77% in 1996 to 56% in 2010, before declining significantly to 50% by 2013. Over the same interval, the decline among 10th graders was from 91% in 1996 to 71% in 2013. These are encouraging changes and suggest that state and community efforts to reduce accessibility to adolescents—particularly younger adolescents—seem to be working."

"For the first time, this year more than half of private high school students say that drugs are kept, used or sold at the school they attend; we call these drug-infected schools. This is an increase of 50 percent in just one year, from 36 percent in 2011 to 54 percent in 2012."

QEV Analytics, LTD., "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVII: Teens," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, August 2012), p. 3.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

"During the 1990s, the annual prevalence of marijuana use tripled among 8th graders (from 6% in 1991 to 18% in 1996), more than doubled among 10th graders (from 15% in 1992 to 35% in 1997), and nearly doubled among 12th graders (from 22% in 1992 to 39% in 1997). Among college students, however, the increase in marijuana use, presumably due to a generational replacement effect, was much more gradual. Annual prevalence of use rose by about one third, from 27% in 1991 to 36% in 1998. Marijuana use began to decline in 1997 among 8th graders and then did the same in 1998 among 10th and 12th graders. The rate of decline was rather modest, however, perhaps due in part to effects of the public debates over medical use of marijuana during that period. In 2001, use remained level in all three grades, but between 2001 and 2004 all three grades showed significant declines in their annual prevalence of marijuana use, with the proportional decline greatest among 8th graders. Eighth graders exhibited the steadiest long-term decline from their recent peak in 1996, a decline of more than four-tenths by 2007. After 2007 use began to increase among 8th graders (see Figure 5-4a in Chapter 5). Declines among 10th and 12th graders started a year later and accelerated after about 2001; between approximately 1997 and 2008, annual prevalence levels fell by 31% and 18% for 10th and 12th graders, respectively. All three grades exhibited slight increases in annual prevalence after the mid-2000s, although the increases were uneven. From 2014 to 2015 levels of use did not significantly change among secondary school students, while among the older samples annual prevalence of marijuana increased, by 2.4 points (s) to 34% among young adults and by 3.5 points (ns) to 38% among college students. This increase specific to the older age group may represent a cohort effect – a continuation of the higher levels of marijuana use in this cohort that was first observed when it was younger in 2008-2011 – and/or the recent publicity and debates about recreational marijuana use may have had more effect on the marijuana attitudes and behaviors of the older groups."

"Sixty percent of high school students and 32 percent of middle school students say that students keep, use or sell drugs on their school grounds. For seven of the past eight years, at least 60 percent of high school students have said they attend a drug-infected school."

QEV Analytics, LTD., "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVII: Teens," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, August 2012), p. 5.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

"Nationwide, 20.7% of students had taken prescription drugs (e.g., Oxycontin, Percocet, Vicodin, codeine, Adderall, Ritalin, or Xanax) without a doctor’s prescription one or more times during their life (i.e., ever took prescription drugs without a doctor’s prescription)"

QEV Analytics, LTD., "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVII: Teens," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, August 2012), p. 2.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

"RESULTS: Positive, significant associations were found between parental incarceration and 8 of 16 health problems (depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, anxiety, cholesterol, asthma, migraines, HIV/AIDS, and fair/poor health) in adjusted logistic regression models. Those who reported paternal incarceration had increased odds of 8 mental and physical health problems, whereas those who reported maternal incarceration had increased odds of depression. For paternal incarceration, with the exception of HIV/AIDS, larger associations were found for mental health (odds ratios range 1.43–1.72) as compared with physical health (odds ratios range 1.26–1.31) problems. The association between paternal incarceration and HIV/AIDs should be interpreted with caution because of the low sample prevalence of HIV/AIDs."

"The teen brain is a work in progress, making it more vulnerable than the mature brain to the physical effects of drugs. The potential for developing substance abuse and dependence is substantially greater when an individual’s first exposure to alcohol, nicotine and illicit drugs occurs during adolescence than in adulthood."

Steinberg, L., Distinguished University Professor and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Temple University and author of You and Your Adolescent: The Essential guide for ages 10 to 25 (personal communication, June 9, 2011), as quoted in "Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Public Health Problem," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, June 2011), p. 13.http://www.casacolumbia.org...

"This year we asked teens, 'Which is easiest to get: cigarettes, marijuana, beer or prescription drugs?' (prior to 2010, we asked, 'Which is easiest to buy?') Cigarettes remain at the top of the list, with 27 percent of teens saying cigarettes are easier to get than other drugs. Beer closely followed cigarettes as the easiest drug for teens to get. Marijuana is third, with 19 percent of teens reporting that it is easiest to get this year, compared to 22 percent last year. Compared to 2011, slightly more teens this year say prescription drugs are easier to get than other drugs (13 percent in 2012 vs. 10 percent in 2011)."

QEV Analytics, LTD., "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVII: Teens," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, August 2012), p. 21.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

“Teen marijuana users are approximately twice as likely as non-users to drop out of high school.234 One study found that, compared to students who did not use marijuana at all in the past year, those who used marijuana less than weekly were 2.6 times as likely to be school dropouts (5.8 percent vs. 2.2 percent) and those who used marijuana at least weekly were 5.8 times as likely to be school dropouts (12.8 percent vs. 2.2 percent).235 Students who use marijuana before age 15 are twice as likely as other students to report frequent truancy and three times as likely to leave school before age 16.236 One study found that, by their 40s, individuals who used marijuana in adolescence and young adulthood had more than a third of a year’s less educational attainment than non-users. The more frequent the marijuana use in this age group, the fewer the number of years of educational attainment achieved.”

"Adolescent Substance Use: America's #1 Public Health Problem," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, June 2011), p. 57.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

"In the United States, 72% of all deaths among youth and young adults aged 10–24 years result from four causes: motor vehicle crashes (26%), other unintentional injuries (17%), homicide (16%), and suicide (13%) (1). Substantial morbidity and social problems also result from the estimated 410,000 births (2); 517,174 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis (3); and 2,036 cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (4) reported in 2009 among youth aged 15–19 years. Among adults aged ?25 years, 57% of all deaths in the United States result from cardiovascular disease (34%) and cancer (23%) (1). These leading causes of morbidity and mortality among youth and adults in the United States are related to six categories of priority health-risk behaviors: 1) behaviors that contribute to unintentional injuries and violence; 2) tobacco use; 3) alcohol and other drug use; 4) sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV infection; 5) unhealthy dietary behaviors; and 6) physical inactivity. These behaviors frequently are interrelated and are established during childhood and adolescence and extend into adulthood."

"Overall, these data reveal that, while use of individual drugs (other than marijuana) may fluctuate widely, the proportion using any of them is much more stable. In other words, the proportion of students prone to using such drugs and willing to cross the normative barriers to such use changes more gradually. The usage rate for each individual drug, on the other hand, reflects many more rapidly changing determinants specific to that drug: how widely its psychoactive potential is recognized, how favorable the reports of its supposed benefits are, how risky its use is seen to be, how acceptable it is in the peer group, how accessible it is, and so on."

"The prevalence of any PI [Parental Incarceration] was 12.5% with the 95% confidence interval (CI) of 11.3% to 13.8%. The distribution of incarceration status by category was: neither parent (87.5%, 95% CI: 86.2%–88.7%), father only (9.9%, 95% CI: 8.9%–10.9%), mother only (1.7%, 95% CI: 1.4%–2.0%), and both parents (0.9%, 95% CI: 0.7%–1.2%). A significant association was found between race and PI. Black and Hispanic individuals had the highest prevalence of PI, 20.6% and 14.8%, compared with 11.9% for white individuals and 11.6% for those classified as other. Pairwise comparison indicated the black and white prevalence rates were significantly different."

Note: Regarding study sample size: "The current study used data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a 4-wave longitudinal study following a nationally representative probability sample of adolescents in grades 7 through 12 in the 1994–1995 school year.46 The first 3 waves of Add
Health data were collected from April to December 1995, from April to August 1996, and from August 2001 to April 2002. The fourth wave of data was collected in 2007 and 2008. The full sample for Wave 4 included 15 701 or 80.3% of the eligible participants from Wave 1. The response rates for Waves 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 79.0%, 88.6%, 77.4%, and 80.3%, respectively. The mean ages of participants during the 4 waves of data collection were 15.7 years, 16.2 years, 22.0 years, and 28.8 years, respectively.
"The current study was based on 14,800 participants who were interviewed during Wave 1 and Wave 4 and have a sampling weight. Of the 15,701 participants who participated in both Wave 1 and Wave 4 interviews, 14,800 participants have a sampling weight at Wave 4 interview that could be used to compute population estimates. For data analysis, data describing participants’ sociodemographic characteristics from Wave 1 of the Add Health study were combined with Wave 4 self-reported health outcomes and PI history."

"For a number of years, 12th-grade African-American students reported lifetime, annual, 30-day, and daily prevalence levels for nearly all drugs that were lower -- sometimes dramatically so -- than those for White or Hispanic 12th graders. That is less true today, with levels of drug use among African Americans more similar to the other groups. This narrowing of the gap between African Americans and other racial/ethnic groups is also seen in 8th and 10th grades, indicating that this narrowing in 12th grade is almost certainly not due primarily to differential dropout rates.
" The distribution of annual marijuana use by race/ethnicity varies by grade level. In all three grades prevalence is highest among Hispanic students. Differences in prevalence across the groups are proportionately largest in 8th grade (15% for Hispanics and 9% for Whites), somewhat smaller in 10th grade (31% for Hispanics compared to 25% for Whites), and negligible in 12th grade (36% for Hispanics and 35% for Whites). African Americans fall in between Whites and Hispanics in grades 8 and 10 but are slightly below them at 12th grade (33%).
" A number of drugs have consistently been much less popular among African-American teens than among White teens. These include hallucinogens, amphetamines, sedatives (barbiturates), tranquilizers, and narcotics other than heroin. Several additional drugs have historically been less popular among African-American teens but did not show much difference in 2015 among 8th graders, though they still are less popular in the upper grades. These include LSD, ecstasy, cocaine (in recent years), powder cocaine, and Vicodin.
" By 12th grade, White students have the highest lifetime and annual prevalence levels among the three major racial/ethnic groups for many substances, including hallucinogens other than LSD, narcotics other than heroin, amphetamines, sedatives (barbiturates), tranquilizers, alcohol, and been drunk. The differentials for LSD have narrowed considerably in recent years as overall prevalence has declined substantially for this drug. Not all of these findings are replicated at lower grade levels, however. See Tables 4-5 and 4-6 for specifics.
" Hispanics now have the highest annual prevalence for crack and cocaine at all three grade levels. The prevalence of cocaine for Hispanic students has tended to be high compared to the other two racial/ethnic groups, particularly in the lower grades. It bears repeating that Hispanics have a considerably higher dropout rate than Whites or African Americans, based on Census Bureau statistics, which should tend to diminish any such differences by 12th grade, yet there remain sizeable differences in the upper grades."

"Compared to teens who have five to seven family dinners per week, those who have fewer than three family dinners per week are twice as likely to say they expect to try drugs (including marijuana and prescription drugs without a prescription to get high) in the future (17 percent vs. 8 percent)."

"The Importance of Family Dinners VIII: A CASAColumbia White Paper," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (New York, NY: September 2012), p. 7.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

"Abuse of prescription medicine [by teens] remains high, but there are signs that it may be plateauing. Close to one in five teens (17 percent) say they have used a prescription medicine at least once in their lifetime to get high or change their mood. This is slightly, although not significantly, down from 22 percent in 2010 and from 20 percent in 2009. Use of prescription pain medicines, specifically Vicodin or OxyContin, is trending downward. One out of ten teens reports using pain medication to get high in the past year and six percent say they used in the past 30 days – down significantly from 2009 levels."

"Every year teens tell us that tobacco, alcohol and other drugs are the biggest problem facing teens their age. This year, 26 percent of teens surveyed say that alcohol, drugs and tobacco are the most important issue teens face, followed by social pressures [18%] and academic pressures [11%]."

"During the 12 months before the survey, 28.5% of students nationwide had felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for 2 or more weeks in a row that they stopped doing some usual activities (Table 21). Overall, the prevalence of having felt sad or hopeless almost every day for 2 or more weeks in a row was higher among female (35.9%) than male (21.5%) students; higher among white female (34.3%), black female (31.4%), and Hispanic female (41.4%) than white male (20.7%), black male (18.0%), and Hispanic male (24.4%) students, respectively;"

"It is important to note that the negative consequences of prescription medicine abuse remain extensive and troubling. Emergency room visits as a result of prescription medications increased 45 percent between 2004 and 2009 among children under 20 years of age1. Admissions to treatment for prescription medicine abuse among adolescents have also increased and deaths caused by drug overdoses, led by prescription medicines, now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States2."

“High school students in CASA’s survey who report having ever used marijuana are more likely than students who never used marijuana to report that they feel alone or isolated (26.7 percent vs. 19.9 percent), that they often feel very sad or depressed (27.9 percent vs. 14.0 percent) and that they think they will develop depression during their lifetime (41.0 percent vs. 25.4 percent).7”

Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Public Health Problem," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, June 2011), p. 46.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

"Younger teens (ages 12 to 13 and 14 to 15) are more likely to say that they can get prescription drugs in an hour, and within a day, compared to marijuana, while older teens (16- to 17) are more likely to be able to get to marijuana within a day."

QEV Analytics, LTD., "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVII: Teens," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, August 2012), p. 28.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

"Teens who have high-quality relationships with Mom and Dad are less likely to use drugs, drink or smoke.
"Compared to teens who say they have an excellent relationship with Dad,* teens who have a less than very good relationship with their father are:
 Almost four times likelier to have used marijuana (23 percent vs. 6 percent);
 Twice as likely to have used alcohol (35 percent vs. 16 percent); and
 Two and a half times as likely to have used tobacco (15 percent vs. 6 percent).
"Compared to teens who say they have an excellent relationship with Mom,† teens who have a less than very good relationship with their mother are:
 Almost three times likelier to have used marijuana (26 percent vs. 9 percent);
 Two and a half times as likely to have used alcohol (45 percent vs.18 percent); and
 Two and a half times likelier to have used tobacco (16 percent vs. 6 percent)."

"The Importance of Family Dinners VIII: A CASAColumbia White Paper," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (New York, NY: September 2012), p. 3.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

"In conclusion, our study of self-reported marijuana use by adolescents in states with a medical marijuana policy compared with a sample of geographically similar states without a policy does not demonstrate increases in marijuana use among high school students that may be attributed to the policies."

"Compared to teens who have never seen pictures on Facebook, MySpace or another social networking site of kids getting drunk, passed out, or using drugs, teens who have seen such pictures are:

 Four times likelier to have used marijuana (25 percent vs. 6 percent);
 More than three times likelier to have used alcohol (43 percent vs. 13 percent); and
 Almost three times likelier to have used tobacco (16 percent vs. 6 percent)."

QEV Analytics, LTD., "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVII: Teens," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, August 2012), p. 3.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

" Forty-five percent of high school students say that there are gangs or students who consider themselves to be part of a gang in their school.
" Thirty-five percent of middle school students say that there are gangs or students who consider themselves to be part of a gang in their school.
"Compared to teens in schools without gangs, those in schools that have gangs are nearly twice as likely to report that their school is drug infected, meaning drugs are used, kept or sold on school grounds (30 percent vs. 58 percent).
"A quarter of public school students (27 percent) say that their school is both drug infected and has gangs."

"Patients aged 20 or younger accounted for 18.8 percent (922,953 visits) of all drug-related ED visits in 2010. About one half (45.3 percent, or 417,856 visits) of these visits involved drug misuse or abuse, representing a rate of 476.1 ED visits per 100,000 population aged 20 or younger."

“When initiation of substance use occurs in preadolescence or early in adolescence, the risk of addiction is magnified.8 CASA’s analysis of national data finds that individuals‡ who first used any addictive substance before age 15 are six and a half times as likely to have a substance use disorder as those who did not use any addictive substance until age 21 or older (28.1 percent vs. 4.3 percent).”

"Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Public Health Problem," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, June 2011), p. 38http://www.casacolumbia.org...

“Each year that the onset of substance use is delayed until the mid-20s - about the time when the human brain is more fully developed10 — the risk of developing a substance use disorder is reduced.11 Among people who used any of these substances before age 18, one in four have a substance disorder, compared with one in 25 who started to smoke, drink or use other drugs at age 21 or later.”12

Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Public Health Problem," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, June 2011), p. 39.http://www.casacolumbia.org/up...

"In 2011, there were 719,000 persons aged 12 or older who had used inhalants for the first time within the past 12 months, which was lower than the numbers in prior years from 2002 to 2005 (ranging from 849,000 to 877,000). An estimated 67.1 percent of past year initiates of inhalants in 2011 were under age 18 when they first used. The average age at first use among recent initiates aged 12 to 49 was similar in 2010 and 2011 (16.3 and 16.4 years, respectively)."

"Inhalants rank second among the illicit drugs in lifetime prevalence for 8th graders (11%) and 10th graders (8.7%); they rank eighth for 12th graders (6.9%). Inhalants also rank second highest in 30-day prevalence among the illicit drugs for 8th (2.3%) and fourth (1.3%) among 10th graders, but eleventh for 12th graders (1.0%). Note that the youngest respondents report the highest rates of use; this is the only class of drugs for which current use declines with age during adolescence.31"

"31: The seemingly anomalous finding of lifetime inhalant prevalence declining across grade levels could be due to various factors. There might be lower lifetime prevalence at older ages because the eventual school dropout segment is included only in the lower grades. If those who will become dropouts are unusually likely to use inhalants, lifetime use rates could decline with grade level. That would lead to a relatively stable recurring difference between the grades in lifetime use (because dropout rates have been fairly stable in recent years); however, the degree of difference has changed some over time (see Table 2-1), with larger differences emerging in the mid-1990s. Another possible factor is changing validity of reporting with age; but in order to account for the trend data, one would have to hypothesize that this tendency became stronger in the 1990s, and we have no reason to believe that it did. Cohort differences may be a factor, but cannot completely explain the large changes in lifetime prevalence. It seems likely that all of these factors contribute to the differences observed in the retrospective reporting by different ages, and possibly some additional factors as well."

" The percentage of adolescents (i.e., youths aged 12 to 17) who used inhalants in the past year was lower in 2007 (3.9 percent) than in 2003, 2004, and 2005 (4.5, 4.6, and 4.5 percent, respectively)
" Among adolescents who used inhalants for the first time in the past year (i.e., past year initiates), the rate of use of nitrous oxide or “whippits” declined between 2002 and 2007 among both genders (males: 40.2 to 20.2 percent; females: 22.3 to 12.2 percent)
" In 2007, 17.2 percent of adolescents who initiated illicit drug use during the past year indicated that inhalants were the first drug that they used; this rate remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2007(Note: "Inhalants" are defined as: "Aerosol sprays other than spray paint include products such as aerosol air fresheners, aerosol spray, and aerosol cleaning products (e.g., dusting sprays, furniture polish). The aerosol propellants in these products are commonly chlorofluorocarbons. By contrast, nitrous oxide is used as a propellant for whipped cream and is available in 2-inch tapered cylinders called “whippits” that are used to pressurize home whipped-cream charging bottles.")

"Paternal incarceration, however, was found associated with a greater number of health outcomes than maternal incarceration. Also, paternal incarceration was found to be associated with both physical and mental health problems, whereas maternal incarceration was found associated only with poor mental health.
"For paternal incarceration, with the exception of HIV/AIDS, larger associations were found for mental health as compared with physical health outcomes. Caution should be taken in understanding the significance of the finding related to HIV/AIDS, given its low overall sample prevalence and wide CI. If this is a true association, it may be related to paternal HIV/AIDS status and other risk factors related to father absence. Given the high correlation between HIV/AIDS and incarceration, increased odds of HIV/AIDS in offspring could come from perinatal transmission. However, social factors may also explain this relationship."

"As shown in Table 2, bivariate analyses indicate PI [Parental Incarceration] was significantly associated with 8 of the 16 health conditions (heart disease, asthma, migraines, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], HIV/AIDS, and fair/poor health). With the exception of heart disease and HIV/AIDS, individuals who reported neither parent had an incarceration history had the lowest prevalence rates of these 8 health conditions. Individuals who reported father incarceration only had the highest prevalence rates of 3 of the 8 health conditions (heart disease, HIV/AIDS, and fair/poor health); whereas individuals who reported mother incarceration only were highest on 2 conditions (depression and anxiety) and individuals who reported incarceration of both parents were highest on 3 conditions (asthma, migraine, and PTSD)."

"Alcohol and marijuana are the two most commonly used substances by teenagers to get high, and a question that is often asked is to what extent does change in one lead to a change in the other. If the substances co-vary negatively (an increase in one is accompanied by a decrease in the other) they are said to be substitutes; if they co-vary positively, they are said to be complements. Note that there is no evidence that the 13-year decline in marijuana use observed between 1979 and 1992 led to any accompanying increase in alcohol use; in fact, through 1992 there was some parallel decline in annual, monthly, and daily alcohol use, as well as in occasions of heavy drinking among 12th graders, suggesting that the two substances are complements. Earlier, when marijuana use increased in the late 1970s, alcohol use also increased. As marijuana use increased again in the 1990s, alcohol use again increased with it, although not as sharply. In sum, there has been little evidence from MTF over the years that supports what we have termed 'the displacement hypothesis,' which asserts that an increase in marijuana use will somehow lead to a decline in alcohol use, or vice versa.8 Instead, both substances appear to move more in harmony, perhaps both reflecting changes in a more general construct, such as the tendency to use psychoactive substances, whether licit or illicit, or in the frequency with which teens party. However, with alcohol use decreasing and marijuana use increasing over the past few years, it is possible that the displacement hypothesis is gaining some support. As a number of states are changing their policies regarding marijuana, our continued monitoring will provide the needed evidence concerning whether alcohol and marijuana are substitutes or complements."

"Approximately 12.3% of the respondents -- high school seniors in the United States -- reported lifetime nonmedical use of prescription opioids and 8.0% reported past-year nonmedical use. Table 1 shows the prevalence of motives for nonmedical use of prescription opioids among high school seniors in the United States. The leading motives included 'to relax or relieve tension' (56.4%), 'to feel good or get high' (53.5%), 'to experiment-see what it's like' (52.4%), 'to relieve physical pain' (44.8%), and 'to have a good time with friends' (29.5%).

Sean Esteban McCabe, Phd, et al., "Motives for Nonmedical Use of Prescription Opioids among High School Seniors in the United States: Self-Treatment and Beyond," Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 2009 August; 163(8): 739-744. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.120.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm...

"The lifetime medical use of prescription opioids was reported by approximately 14.0% of those who did not engage in past-year nonmedical use of prescription opioids, 76.1% of nonmedical users of prescription opioids motivated only by pain relief, 71.4% of those motivated by pain relief and other motives, and 46.7% of those who reported non-pain relief motives only (p < 0.001). Among past-year nonmedical users of prescription opioids, approximately 56.5% of those motivated only by pain relief as compared to 23.1% of those who reported pain relief and other motives, and 14.2% of those who reported only non-pain relief motives had initiated medical use of prescription opioids before nonmedical use of prescription opioids. In contrast, approximately 19.6% of those motivated only by pain relief as compared to 48.3% of those who reported pain relief and other motives, and 32.5% of those who reported only non-pain relief motives initiated nonmedical use of prescription opioids before medical use of prescription opioids."

Sean Esteban McCabe, Phd, et al., "Motives for Nonmedical Use of Prescription Opioids among High School Seniors in the United States: Self-Treatment and Beyond," Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 2009 August; 163(8): 739-744. doi:10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.120.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pu...http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm...

"Since 1991, the number of children with a mother in prison has more than doubled, up 131%. The number of children with a father in prison has grown by 77%. This finding reflects a faster rate of growth in the number of mothers held in state and federal prisons (up 122%), compared to the number of fathers (up 76%) between 1991 and midyear 2007.
"Of the estimated 74 million children in the U.S. resident population who were under age 18 on July 1, 2007, 2.3% had a parent in prison (table 2). Black children (6.7%) were seven and a half times more likely than white children (0.9%) to have a parent in prison. Hispanic children (2.4%) were more than two and a half times more likely than white children to have a parent in prison."

"Youths who used illicit drugs in the past year were significantly less likely than youths who had not used drugs to report that they received prevention messages in a special class about alcohol or other drugs at school or as part of another regular class, such as a health class, although these differences were not large. Nearly half of youths who used illicit drugs in the past year reported that they received education or information about alcohol or other drugs as part of a regular class at school, and nearly 30% of youths who used illicit drugs reported being in a special class about alcohol or other drugs at their schools. Youths who were drunk on 51 or more days in the past year did not differ significantly from their counterparts with regard to receipt of alcohol or other drug education as part of a special class.
"In addition, findings from Table 13.8 suggest that youths’ exposure to prevention messages outside school, such as through the media, was fairly widespread but appeared to be unrelated to illicit drug use or being drunk on 51 or more days in the past year. Nearly 80% of youths who used illicit drugs and more than three-fourths of youths who were drunk on 51 or more days in the past year reported being exposed to prevention messages outside school."

"Juveniles using drugs or alcohol committed 1 in 10 of the nonfatal violent victimizations against older teens. This was 2-1/2 times higher than the percentage of victimizations against younger teens perceived to be committed by a juvenile who was using drugs or alcohol.
"Younger teens were more likely than older teens to report that their juvenile offender was not using drugs or alcohol. In about 4 in 10 victimizations against younger and older teens committed by juveniles, the victim could not ascertain whether or not the offender was using drugs or alcohol."

" Exposure to prevention messages in the media was significantly associated with lower odds of past year marijuana use for whites and Hispanics, but not for blacks or youths in the 'other' category.
" Higher levels of parental communication about substance use were significantly associated with lower odds of past year marijuana use among Hispanic youths, but not among youths of other racial/ethnic groups.
" Within the school domain, strong sanctions against illegal drug use were significantly associated with lower odds of past year youth marijuana use among whites, Hispanics, and youths in the "other" category, but not for blacks.
" Exposure to prevention messages in school was associated with lower odds of past year marijuana use for whites and Hispanics, but not for blacks or youths in the 'other' category."

"Interestingly, our results do not confirm our hypothesis of better overall functioning among abstainers. In fact, what our research indicates is that the main difference between COG [cannabis use only group] youth and abstainers [those abstaining from all drugs] is that the former are more socially driven: they are significantly more likely to practice sports, and they have a better relationship with their peers. Moreover, even though they are more likely to skip class, they have the same level of good grades; and although they have a worse relationship with their parents, they are not more likely to be depressed. Nevertheless, our results seem to indicate that, although typical of the adolescence process, having good support from friends together with a less solid relationship with parents is a risk factor for occasional cannabis use."

"Zambon et al also found that having a good relationship with a best friend was related to increased use of cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco. Similarly, Hoel et al39 reported that although abstainers are successful in many social arenas, they socialize less frequently with friends than youth who drink, while a Finnish study40 indicated that moderate use of alcohol among adolescents was associated with a positive self-image in social relationships. Another
study,41 performed in New Zealand, also indicated an association between a high level of connectedness to friends and an increased level of smoking and use of cannabis in the previous month.
"In addition, and contrary to previous research,23 our study does not confirm the negative effect of cannabis on academic performance among COG youth. In our case, they are more likely to be high school students and they report similar grades as abstainers, even though they skip class more often."

"Our results are not consistent with the hypothesis that the legalization of medical marijuana caused an increase in the use of marijuana and other substances among high school students. In fact, estimates from our preferred specifications are consistently negative and are never statistically distinguishable from zero."
"There is little evidence that marijuana use is related to the legalization of medical marijuana in either of these data sources [*], a result that is consistent with research showing that marijuana use among adults is more sensitive to changes in policy than marijuana use among youths (Farrelly et al. 1999; Williams 2004)."
[*] data sources are the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) and the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS)

"In the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, cannabis use appears to have increased the risk of discontinuing a high school education, and of experiencing job instability in young adulthood (Newcombe and Bentler, 1988). The apparent strength of these relationships in cross-sectional studies (e.g. Kandel, 1984) has been exaggerated because those adolescents who are most likely to use cannabis have lower academic aspirations and poorer high school performance prior to using cannabis than their peers who do not (Newcombe and Bentler, 1988). It remains possible that factors other than the marijuana use account for apparent causal relations. To the extent they may exist, these adverse effects of cannabis and other drug use upon development over and above the effect of pre-existing nonconformity may cascade throughout young adult life, affecting choice of occupation, level of income, choice of mate, and the quality of life of the user and his or her children."

Hall, W., Room, R., & Bondy, S., WHO Project on Health Implications of Cannabis Use: A Comparative Appraisal of the Health and Psychological Consequences of Alcohol, Cannabis, Nicotine and Opiate Use August 28, 1995 (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 1998).http://www.druglibrary.net/sch...

"In line with previous work, we found that cannabis users had lower teenage IQ scores and poorer educational performance than teenagers who had never used cannabis. At the same time, cannabis users also had higher rates of childhood behavioural problems, childhood depressive symptoms, other substance use (including use of cigarettes and alcohol) and maternal use of cannabis during pregnancy. After adjustment to account for these group differences, cannabis use by the age of 15 did not predict either lower teenage IQ scores or poorer educational performance. These findings therefore suggest that cannabis use at the modest levels used by this sample of teenagers is not by itself causally related to cognitive impairment. Instead, our findings imply that previously reported associations between adolescent cannabis use and poorer intellectual and educational outcomes may be confounded to a significant degree by related factors."

"In summary, the notion that cannabis use itself is causally related to lower IQ and poorer educational performance was not supported in this large teenage sample. However, this study indeed has limitations, in particular the young age of outcome assessment. While we have demonstrated that confounding may be an explanation for links between cannabis use and poorer outcomes, large prospective cohorts tracking young people prior to, during and after stopping cannabis use, using more objective measures of drug use (e.g. the new NIH-funded ‘ABCD study’ in the United States; National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2015) are required before we can make strong conclusions. Cigarette smoking in particular has once again (Hooper et al., 2014; McCaffrey et al., 2010; Silins et al., 2014; Stiby et al., 2014) been highlighted as an important factor in adolescent outcomes, as well as a robust independent predictor of educational performance, and the reasons for this need to be elucidated."

"Compared with those in our sample who had never tried cannabis, teenagers who had used cannabis at least 50 times were 17 times more likely (84% vs. 5%) to have smoked cigarettes more than 20 times in their lifetime. Accounting for group differences in cigarette smoking dramatically attenuated the associations between cannabis use and both IQ and educational performance. Further, even after excluding those who had never tried cannabis, cigarette users were found to have lower educational performance (adjusted performance 2.9 percentage points lower, approximately equivalent to dropping two grades on one subject taken at GCSE) relative to those who had never tried cigarettes. A relationship between cigarette use and poorer cognitive (Chamberlain et al., 2012; Hooper et al., 2014; Weiser et al., 2010; Whalley et al., 2005) and educational (McCaffrey et al., 2010; Silins et al., 2014; Stiby et al., 2014) outcomes has been noted previously, and may have a number of explanations. Cigarette use may have a negative impact on cognitive ability. However, this is not supported by the experimental psychopharmacology literature, which robustly shows that acute nicotine administration results in transient cognitive enhancement (Heishman et al., 2010). Alternatively, reverse causality may contribute to this relationship, for example performing poorly at school may lead to increased engagement in risky behaviours such as cigarette smoking. Further, residual confounding may contribute to this link: cigarette smoking may be a marker of unmeasured factors, for example social adversity during adolescence, that influence both IQ and educational attainment."

"In the present study, the most persistent adolescent-onset cannabis users evidenced an average 8-point IQ decline from childhood to adulthood. Quitting, however, may have beneficial effects, preventing additional impairment for adolescent-onset users. Prevention and policy efforts should focus on delivering to the public the message that cannabis use during adolescence can have harmful effects on neuropsychological functioning, delaying the onset of cannabis use at least until adulthood, and encouraging cessation of cannabis use particularly for those who began using cannabis in adolescence."

"Our findings suggest that regular cannabis use before age 18 y predicts impairment, but others have found effects only for younger ages (10, 15). Given that the brain undergoes dynamic changes from the onset of puberty through early adulthood (37, 38), this developmental period should be the focus of future research on the age(s) at which harm occurs."

"The younger and more often teens use marijuana, the more likely they are to engage in other substance use and the higher their risk of developing a substance use disorder. Among high school students, 7.5 percent used marijuana for the first time before the age of 13. CASA’s analysis of national data finds that the average age of initiation of marijuana use among high school students is 14.3 years old. Compared to those who began using marijuana after age 21, those who first used it before age 15 are:
 More likely to have ever smoked a cigarette (93.3 percent vs. 86.4 percent);
 More than twice as likely to have ever misused controlled prescription drugs (56.5 percent vs. 22.9 percent); and
 Two and a half times as likely to have ever used other illicit drugs (70.2 percent vs. 27.8 percent)."

"Marijuana use, which had been rising among teens for the past four years, continued to rise in 2011 in all prevalence periods for 10th and 12th graders; but in 2012 these increases halted. The recent rise in use stood in stark contrast to the long, gradual decline that had been occurring over the preceding decade. (Although use among 8th graders had been rising, annual prevalence decreased after 2010.) It is relevant that perceived risk for marijuana has been falling for the past six years, and disapproval declined for the past three to four years. These changes would normally portend a further increase in use."

"High school students are more likely to use marijuana than to smoke cigarettes. High school students are:
" More likely to have tried marijuana than tobacco (24 percent vs. 15 percent); and
" More likely to say their close friends use marijuana than smoke cigarettes (51 percent vs. 39 percent)."

QEV Analytics, LTD., "National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVII: Teens," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, August 2012), p. 30.http://www.casacolumbia.org...

"Teens also say they are seeing more peers in school smoking marijuana and more teens (73 percent) report having friends who smoke marijuana regularly (71 percent) – significantly higher than four years ago. Since 2008, there have also been significant declines in teen perceptions that they will lose respect, harm themselves, or mess up their lives if they use marijuana."

"The apparent strength of these relationships in cross-sectional studies (e.g. Kandel, 1984) has been exaggerated because those adolescents who are most likely to use cannabis have lower academic aspirations and poorer high school performance prior to using cannabis than their peers who do not (Newcombe and Bentler, 1988). It remains possible that factors other than the marijuana use account for apparent causal relations. To the extent they may exist, these adverse effects of cannabis and other drug use upon development over and above the effect of pre-existing nonconformity may cascade throughout young adult life, affecting choice of occupation, level of income, choice of mate, and the quality of life of the user and his or her children."

Hall, W., Room, R., & Bondy, S., WHO Project on Health Implications of Cannabis Use: A Comparative Appraisal of the Health and Psychological Consequences of Alcohol, Cannabis, Nicotine and Opiate Use August 28, 1995 (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 1998).http://www.druglibrary.net...

"About 4,200 juveniles age 17 or younger were held in local jails at midyear 2014. They accounted for 0.6% of the confined population, down from 1.2% at midyear 2000. Nearly 90% or 3,700 juvenile inmates were tried or awaiting trial in adult court. The number of juveniles not charged as an adult declined by 74% between midyear 2010 and 2014 (from 1,900 to 500 inmates)."

"The risk factors were stronger predictors of substance use outcomes compared to the protective factors, regardless of grade level or substance use type. In particular, the individual and peer risk factors were strongly related to lifetime and recent use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Among the protective factors, the strongest associations with substance use were found in the community domain. Several age-related differences in the associations were also found, suggesting that family and community factors were more salient among younger grades whereas peer and school factors were stronger among older adolescents."

"Addictive substances also adversely affect brain development and maturation in the areas related to motivation, judgment, inhibition and selfcontrol.26 As a result, addictive substances impair the judgment of teens in the face of potential rewards, leading not only to their engagement in risky behaviors--such as driving while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs or participating in unsafe sexual practices--but also to continued use of addictive substances despite negative consequences.27”

Adolescent Substance Use: America’s #1 Public Health Problem," The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, June 2011), p. 13.http://www.casacolumbia.org/ad...

"Social learning variables, peer attitudes (prevalence of norms favourable to deviant behaviour), personal approval (adoption of deviant norms), and peer behaviour have an effect on frequency of alcohol use and alcohol abuse. Alcohol expectancies and peer delinquency predict alcohol consumption of adolescents.
"Going out most evenings and the use of cannabis by peers and older siblings is associated with adolescents’ use of cannabis.
"Having school-related problems is a strong predictor in all stages of cannabis involvement (initiation of experimental use, initiation of regular use, progression to regular use, failure to discontinue, experimental use, failure to discontinue, regular use)."

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, "Preventing later substance use disorders in at-risk children and adolescents: a review of the theory and evidence base of indicated prevention" (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2009) , p. 15.http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/at...

"In sum, risk taking declines between adolescence and adulthood for two, and perhaps, three reasons. First, the maturation of the cognitive control system, as evidenced by structural and functional changes in the prefrontal cortex, strengthens individuals’ abilities to engage in longer-term planning and inhibit impulsive behavior. Second, the maturation of connections across cortical areas and between cortical and subcortical regions facilitates the coordination of cognition and affect, which permits individuals to better modulate socially and emotionally aroused inclinations with deliberative reasoning and, conversely, to modulate excessively deliberative decision-making with social and emotional information. Finally, there may be developmental changes in patterns of neurotransmission after adolescence that change reward salience and reward-seeking, but this is a topic that requires further behavioral and neurobiological research before saying anything definitive."

"Depressive disorders have an association with alcohol abuse or dependence and cannabis dependence. There are also reciprocal effects of suicidality and substance use. Mood disorders (including bipolar disorders — hypomania and mania) predict increased rates for cannabis use and cannabis use disorder. For anxiety disorders, results were variable."

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, "Preventing later substance use disorders in at-risk children and adolescents: a review of the theory and evidence base of indicated prevention" (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2009) , p. 20.http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/at...

"In commenting on problem behaviors among youth, Jessor and Jessor (1975) and later Jessor (1984) argued that adolescence is a period in which youth reject conventionality and traditional authority figures in an effort to establish their own independence. For a significant number of adolescents, this rejection consists of engaging in a number of 'risky' behaviors, including drug and alcohol use. Within the past few years, researchers and practitioners have begun to focus on this tendency, suggesting that drug use may be a 'default' activity engaged in when youth have few or no opportunities to assert their independence in a constructive manner (Benard 1994; gentler 1992; Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development 1992; Cato 1992; Maddahian et al. 1988; Pransky 1991). They note that in contemporary American society, youth have very few opportunities to participate in activities that allow them to develop a sense of independence and assume significant responsibilities. Such efforts must allow youth to exercise considerable control over activity development and implementation."

"Marijuana is one drug that is affected by some very specific policies, including medicalization and legalization of recreational use by adults. The effects on youth behaviors and attitudes of recent changes in a number of states will need to be carefully monitored in future years. Currently, marijuana does not hold the same appeal for youth as it did in the past, and today’s annual prevalance among 12th graders of 36% is considerably lower than rates exceeding 50% in the 1970s (documented by this project). However, if states that legalize recreational marijuana allow marijuana advertising and marketing, then prevalence could rebound and approach or even surpass past levels."

"Family risk factors in the development of adolescent substance use are: known familial substance use or abuse, and a lack of parental supervision. Protective factors are: warm and supportive family environment, prosocial family processes (rules, monitoring) and attachment."

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, "Preventing later substance use disorders in at-risk children and adolescents: a review of the theory and evidence base of indicated prevention" (Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2009) , p. 15.http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/at...

"The disciplinary policies in effect in many schools today apply zero tolerance to public school students in three draconian ways. First, they are blind to the most basic distinctions between types of offenses. In many schools, dangerousness is irrelevant; the penalties are the same for weapons and alcohol, sale and possession, robbery, and disorderly offenses. Offenses that used to be resolved informally with an apology or an after-school detention now lead to formal disciplinary hearings. Second, they require a severe sanction, typically suspension or expulsion, for all of these offenses, regardless of the circumstances of the offense or the intent, history and prospects of the offender. Third, these policies generally mandate some degree of information-sharing with law enforcement. This multiplies the consequences of student misconduct in two directions: out-of-school offenses referred to the child’s school may result in suspension or other sanctions,18 and in-school infractions referred to law enforcement agencies may result in juvenile or criminal prosecution."

Eric Blumenson, Eva S. Nilsen, "How to Construct an Underclass, or How the War on Drugs Became a War on Education," The Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, (May 2002), p. 65.http://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/view...

"Another point worth keeping in mind is that there tends to be a continuous flow of new drugs onto the scene and of older ones being rediscovered by young people. Many drugs have made a comeback years after they first fell from popularity, often because knowledge among youth of their adverse consequences faded as generational replacement took place. We call this process 'generational forgetting.' Examples include LSD and methamphetamine, two drugs used widely in the 1960s that made a comeback in the 1990s after their initial popularity faded as a result of their adverse consequences becoming widely recognized during periods of high use. Heroin, cocaine, PCP, and crack are some others that have followed a similar pattern. LSD, inhalants, and ecstasy have all shown some effects of generational forgetting in recent years — that is, perceived risk has declined appreciably for those drugs — which puts future cohorts at greater risk of having a resurgence in use. In the case of LSD, perceived risk among 8th graders has declined noticeably, and more students are saying that they are not familiar with the drug. It would appear that a resurgence in availability (which declined very sharply after about 2001, most likely due to the FDA closing a major lab in 2000) could generate another increase in use."

" Alcohol and cigarettes are the two major licit drugs included in the MTF surveys, though even these are legally prohibited for purchase by those the age of most of our respondents. Alcohol use is more widespread than use of illicit drugs. About seven out of ten 12th-grade students (68%) have at least tried alcohol, and approximately four out of ten (39%) are current drinkers—that is, they reported consuming some alcohol in the 30 days prior to the survey (Table 4-2). Even among 8th graders, more than a quarter (28%)report any alcohol use in their lifetime, and one in ten (10%) is a current (past 30-day) drinker.34
" Of greater concern than just any use of alcohol is its use to the point of inebriation: In 2013 one eighth of all 8th graders (12%), one third of 10th graders (34%), and about a half of all 12th graders (52%) said they had been drunk at least once in their lifetime. The prevalence rates of self-reported drunkenness during the 30 days immediately preceding the survey are strikingly high—4%, 13%, and 26%, respectively, for grades 8, 10, and 12.
" Another measure of heavy drinking asks respondents to report how many occasions during the previous two-week period they had consumed five or more drinks in a row. Prevalence rates for this behavior, which is also referred to as binge drinking or episodic heavy drinking, are 5%, 14%, and 22% for the three grades, respectively."

" In 2012, 75.9 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 reported having seen or heard drug or alcohol prevention messages in the past year from sources outside of school, such as from posters or pamphlets, on the radio, or on television. This rate in 2012 was similar to the 75.1 percent reported in 2011, but was lower than the 83.2 percent reported in 2002 (Figure 6.6). In 2012, the prevalence of past month use of illicit drugs among those who reported having such exposure (9.4 percent) was not significantly different from the prevalence among those who reported having no such exposure (10.0 percent).
" In 2012, 75.0 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 enrolled in school in the past year reported having seen or heard drug or alcohol prevention messages at school, which was similar to the 74.6 percent reported in 2011, but was lower than the 78.8 percent reported in 2002 (Figure 6.6). In 2012, the prevalence of past month use of illicit drugs or marijuana was lower among those who reported having such exposure in school (8.9 and 6.7 percent for illicit drugs and marijuana, respectively) than among youths who were enrolled in school but reported having no such exposure (12.3 and 9.7 percent)."

"We replicated the findings of Wall et al. (2) that marijuana use was higher in states that have passed MMLs, and our analysis suggests this is unlikely to be a causal association. Our difference-in-differences estimates suggest little detectable effects of passing MMLs on marijuana use or perceived riskiness of use among adolescents or adults, which is consistent with some limited prior evidence on arrestees and emergency department patients (17). Future analyses that take advantage of additional policy changes may provide further evidence on this question, but our results suggest that such analyses should adequately control for potential confounding by unmeasured state characteristics."

(Non-Recreational Adolescent Marijuana Use) "The findings of this study provide one of the first in-depth descriptions of youths' use of marijuana for non-recreational purposes, adding to the growing body of research on the use of drugs to self-medicate among young people. Teens involved in regular and long-term use of marijuana for relief constructed their use of marijuana as essential to feeling better or 'normal' in situations where they perceived there were few other options available to them. Unlike the spontaneity typically involved in recreational use, these youth were thoughtful and prescriptive with their marijuana use – carefully monitoring and titrating their use to optimize its therapeutic effect. The findings also point to important contextual factors that further support youth's use of marijuana for relief that extend beyond the availability of marijuana and dominant discourses that construct marijuana as a natural product with medicinal properties."

"Of key importance in the findings are the unmet health needs of these youth. Health issues such as depression, insomnia, and anxiety were significant problems that interfered with these youths' ability to function at school, maintain relationships with family and friends, and feel that they could live a normal life. The level of distress associated with these health concerns, along with the lack of effective interventions by heath care providers and family members appeared to leave them with few alternatives. Researchers have reported that when adolescents in rural communities experience barriers to seeking health care, they think they can take care of the problems themselves [30]. Similarly, our study participants believed that their best option was to assume responsibility for treating their problems by using marijuana. Unpleasant side effects with prescribed medications and long, ineffective therapies resulted in little hope that the medical system could be counted on as beneficial. In contrast, marijuana provided these youth with immediate relief for a variety of health concerns. Nevertheless, the regular use of marijuana put youth at risk. Cannabis use has been identified as a risk factor for mental illness such as psychosis, schizophrenia [21,31,32] and psychiatric symptoms such as panic attacks [33]. Teens who smoked marijuana at least once per month in the past year were found to be three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than non-users [34], and there is evidence that exposure to cannabis may worsen depression in youth [35]. Marijuana use among youth has also been associated with other substance use and school failure [36]. What is interesting is that the findings of this study suggest that youth have little awareness of some of these risks; rather, some are using marijuana to counteract these very problems (e.g., depression, school failure). Teens' perceptions that their health concerns were not addressed suggest that more attention is needed to assess these issues and ensure that other options are available to them. Parents and health care providers need to make a concerted effort to not only understand the pressures and influences on youth [37], but also gain a better understanding of the effect of youths' health problems on their ability to engage in healthy lifestyle choices."

"Underlying problems related to youth health concerns also need to be addressed. In many situations, the participants' symptoms appeared to be directly related to their life circumstances. Along with the challenges inherent in being an adolescent in today's complex world, some teens were also trying to deal with significant losses (death of a close friend or family member), extremely difficult family relationships, disappointments with friends, school and sports, and a fragile family and peer support network. The risk of substance use increases substantially when youth are attempting to deal with these kinds of situations in isolation. Although marijuana provided the youth with temporary relief, the underlying situation often went unattended – leading the teens into a regular pattern of use. Appropriate guidance and targeted support from counselors and health care providers must be sensitive to meeting the needs of youth as they work through such situations and life altering events. In addition, adults working with youth must find better ways to talk with young people about how they are coping with their health issues, including their marijuana use. Based on the experiences of youth in this study, there is a wide range of support that may benefit youth including counseling, stress management, social skills training, anger management, study skills, pain management, and sleep hygiene. The youth in this study had minimal access to these types of resources."

"We found no evidence of intermediate-term effects of passage of state MMLs on the prevalence or frequency of adolescent nonmedical marijuana use in the states evaluated, with 2 minor exceptions. From 2003 through 2009, adolescent lifetime prevalence of marijuana use and frequency of daily marijuana use decreased significantly in Montana, as compared with a more modest decrease in lifetime prevalence and an increase in daily frequency observed in Delaware (Ps = .03). These 2 statistically significant findings do not appear to represent real effects. Our difference-in-differences study design involved 40 planned comparisons (before---after differences in treatment vs comparison states), and naturally 2 significant results (at the P < .05 level) of a possible 40 can be expected according to chance alone.
"Moreover, the pattern is not consistent with an effect of MMLs. A significant effect was found for lifetime marijuana use but not past-month marijuana use. Self-reported lifetime use requires a much longer recall period than past-month use and is characterized by higher measurement error.13 Also, one would expect the 30-day use measure to be more sensitive than lifetime use to the effects of a change in MMLs, because most of the period covered by respondents’ lifetime reports occurred before passage of an MML.
"Finally, the significant increase in daily marijuana use was observed for the comparison state of Delaware, which had not enacted an MML during the years under evaluation, whereas the frequency of daily marijuana use in Montana decreased. This is the opposite of
what would be expected if MMLs had the deleterious effect of increasing the frequency of nonmedical marijuana use.
"Conversely, the significant effects observed were found between the 2 states that differed the most on the timing of MML enactment, maximizing the length of the follow-up period. Hence, it is reasonable to suspect that enacting an MML may influence the prevalence and frequency of adolescent nonmedical marijuana use half a decade later, despite no evidence of more proximal effects."

" Alcohol and cigarettes are the two major licit drugs included in the MTF surveys, though even these are legally prohibited for purchase by those the age of most of our respondents. Alcohol use is more widespread than use of illicit drugs. About two thirds of 12th-grade students (66%) have at least tried alcohol, and more than one third (37%) are current drinkers — that is, they reported consuming some alcohol in the 30 days prior to the survey (Table 4-2). Even among 8th graders, more than a quarter (27%) reported any alcohol use in their lifetime, and one in eleven (9%) is a current (past 30 day) drinker.4
" Of greater concern than just any use of alcohol is its use to the point of inebriation: In 2014 one ninth of all 8th graders (11%), three tenths of 10th graders (30%), and half of all 12th graders (50%) said they had been drunk at least once in their lifetime. The levels of selfreported drunkenness during the 30 days immediately preceding the survey are strikingly high — 3%, 11%, and 24%, respectively, for grades 8, 10, and 12."

" Prevalence of cigarettes is generally higher than for any of the illicit drugs, except for marijuana. About one third (34%) of 12th graders reported having tried cigarettes at some time, and one seventh (14%) smoked in the prior 30 days. Even among 8th graders, about one seventh (14%) reported having tried cigarettes and 4% reported smoking in the prior 30 days. Among 10th graders, 23% reported having tried cigarettes, and 7.2% reported smoking in the prior 30 days. The percentages reporting smoking cigarettes in the prior 30 days are actually lower in all three grades in 2014 than the percentages reporting using marijuana in the prior 30 days: 4.0% for cigarettes versus 6.5% for marijuana in 8th grade; 7.2% versus 16.6% in 10th grade; and 13.6% versus 21.2% in 12th grade. These numbers reflect mostly the considerable decline in cigarette use that has occurred in recent years, though the recent increase in marijuana use has contributed to their standing relative to each other as well. Among 8th, 10th and 12th graders, lifetime prevalence of marijuana use in 2014 was also higher than lifetime prevalence of cigarette use. (Annual prevalence of cigarettes is not assessed.) As noted below, however, daily use in the prior 30 days was higher for cigarettes than for marijuana or alcohol in 8th and 12th grades. For 10th graders marijuana daily use was higher than daily cigarette use (3.4% versus 3.2%)."

" Table 8-8 lists the proportions of 12th graders in 2013 who favor various legal consequences for marijuana use: making it entirely legal (42%), a minor violation like a parking ticket but not a crime (25%), or a crime (21%). The remaining 13% said they 'don’t know.' It is noteworthy just how variable attitudes about this contentious issue are.
" Asked whether they thought it should be legal to sell marijuana if it were legal to use it, about three in five (61%) said 'yes.' However, about 85% of those answering 'yes' (52% of all respondents) would permit sale only to adults. A small minority (9%) favored the sale to anyone, regardless of age, while 29% said that sale should not be legal even if use were made legal, and 10% said they 'don’t know.' Thus, while the majority subscribe to the idea of legal sale, if use is allowed, the great majority agree with the notion that sale to underage people should not be legal."

" From 1975 through 1978, there were modest declines (shifts of five to seven percentage points, depending on the substance) in the proportions of 12th graders who favored legal prohibition of private use of any of the five illicit drugs (see Table 8-7). But by 1990 (12 years later), all of these proportions had increased substantially, with shifts of 8 to 31 percentage points. The proportion who thought marijuana use in private should be prohibited by law more than doubled, from 25% in 1978 to 56% in 1990—a dramatic shift.
" Then, between 1990 and 1997, positions on prohibition of all illicit drug use softened once again, particularly in the case of marijuana use in private. After 1997 these attitudes were fairly stable, or continued to soften slightly. For example, in 2013, 69% thought taking amphetamines or sedatives (barbiturates) in public should be prohibited, down from 77% in 1997.
" One important change in these attitudes that occurred after 2006 is increased tolerance for the use of marijuana in private, as the proportion favoring prohibition declined from 42% in 2006 to 32% in 2013. Tolerance for public use of marijuana increased after 2008, when 70% thought such use should be prohibited, dropping to 61% by 2013.
" The proportions favoring prohibitions on the use in private of some other drugs have also declined since about 2007, including LSD (from 64% to 58% in 2013), amphetamines or sedatives (barbiturates) (from 54% to 49%), and heroin (from 73% to 71%)."

" Table 8-8 lists the proportions of 12th graders in 2013 who favor various legal consequences for marijuana use: making it entirely legal (42%), a minor violation like a parking ticket but not a crime (25%), or a crime (21%). The remaining 13% said they 'don’t know.' It is noteworthy just how variable attitudes about this contentious issue are.
" Asked whether they thought it should be legal to sell marijuana if it were legal to use it, about three in five (61%) said 'yes.' However, about 85% of those answering 'yes' (52% of all respondents) would permit sale only to adults. A small minority (9%) favored the sale to anyone, regardless of age, while 29% said that sale should not be legal even if use were made legal, and 10% said they 'don’t know.' Thus, while the majority subscribe to the idea of legal sale, if use is allowed, the great majority agree with the notion that sale to underage people should not be legal.
" Most 12th graders felt that they would be little affected personally by the legalization of either the sale or the use of marijuana. Over half (56%) of the respondents said that they would not use the drug even if it were legal to buy and use, while others indicated they would use it about as often as they do now (15%) or less often (1.5%). Only 9% said they would use it more often than they do at present, while 10% thought they would try it. Another 9% said they did not know how their behavior would be affected if marijuana were legalized. Still, this amounts to 19% of all seniors, or about one in five, who thought that they would try marijuana, or that their use would increase, if marijuana were legalized.
"A study of the effects of decriminalization by several states during the late 1970s found no evidence of any impact on the use of marijuana among young people, nor on attitudes and beliefs concerning its use.88 However, it should be noted that decriminalization falls well short of the full legalization posited in the questions here. Moreover, the situation today is very different from the one in the late 1970s, with more peer disapproval and more rigorous enforcement of drug laws, at least until very recently. Some recent studies suggest that there might be an impact of decriminalization, because 'youths living in decriminalized states are significantly more likely to report currently using marijuana.'89 As more states adopt decriminalization or full legalization for adults, (as occurred in 2012 in Colorado and the state of Washington), it seems quite possible that attitudes about and use of marijuana will change. Declines in perceived risk and disapproval of marijuana would seem the most likely attitudinal changes, and such changes may well lead to increased use among youth."

"Overall, supply reduction — that is, reducing the availability of drugs — does not appear to have played as major a role as many had assumed in four of the five most important downturns in illicit drug use that have occurred to date, namely, those for marijuana, cocaine, crack, and ecstasy (see, for example, Figures 8-4, 8-5, and 8-6). In the case of cocaine, perceived availability actually rose during much of the period of downturn in use. (These data are corroborated by data from the Drug Enforcement Administration on trends in the price and purity of cocaine on the streets.96) For marijuana, perceived availability has remained very high for 12th graders since 1976, while use dropped substantially from 1979 through 1992 and fluctuated considerably thereafter. Perceived availability for ecstasy did increase in parallel with increasing use in the 1990s, but the decline phase for use appears to have been driven much more by changing beliefs about the dangers of ecstasy than by any sharp downturn in availability. Similarly, amphetamine use declined appreciably from 1981 to 1992, with only a modest corresponding change in perceived availability. Finally, until 1995, heroin use had not risen among 12th graders even though availability had increased substantially.
" What did change dramatically were young peoples’ beliefs about the dangers of using marijuana, cocaine, crack, and ecstasy. We believe that increases in perceived risk led to a decrease in use directly through their impact on young people’s demand for these drugs and indirectly through their impact on personal disapproval and, subsequently, peer norms. Because the perceived risk of amphetamine use was changing little when amphetamine use was declining substantially (1981–1986), other factors must have helped to account for the decline in demand for that class of drugs—quite conceivably some displacement by cocaine. Because three classes of drugs (marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines) have shown different patterns of change, it is highly unlikely that a general factor (e.g., a broad shift against drug use) can explain their various trends.
" The increase in marijuana use in the 1990s among 12th graders added more compelling evidence to this interpretation. It was both preceded and accompanied by a decrease in perceived risk. (Between 1991 and 1997, the perceived risk of regular marijuana use declined 21 percentage points.) Peer disapproval dropped sharply from 1993 through 1997, after perceived risk began to change, consistent with our interpretation that perceived risk can be an important determinant of disapproval as well as of use. Perceived availability remained fairly constant from 1991 to 1993 and then increased seven percentage points through 1998."

"On average, 7% of the ESPAD students stated that they had used marijuana or hashish during the past 30 days. As a proportion of the group reporting lifetime use, this corresponds to roughly four in ten. The highest rates of past-30-days cannabis use are found in the two neighbouring countries of France and Monaco (24% and 21%, respectively), followed by the United States (not an ESPAD country) (18 %) and the Czech Republic and Spain (not an ESPAD country) (15% each). In these top countries, about 10% of all students had used cannabis at an average frequency roughly corresponding to at least once a week during the period in question (3–5 times or more in the past 30 days). This proportion is considerably larger than the average for all ESPAD countries (4%)."

"The 2011 ESPAD Report: Substance Use Among Students in 36 European Countries" (Stockholm, Sweden: Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs, May 2012), p. 88.http://www.espad.org/Uploads/E...

"Overall, these data reveal that, while use of individual drugs (other than marijuana) may fluctuate widely, the proportion using any of them is much more stable. In other words, the proportion of students prone to using such drugs and willing to cross the normative barriers to such use changes more gradually. The usage rate for each individual drug, on the other hand, reflects many more rapidly changing determinants specific to that drug: how widely its psychoactive potential is recognized, how favorable the reports of its supposed benefits are, how risky its use is seen to be, how acceptable it is in the peer group, how accessible it is, and so on."

There were an estimated 195,700 arrests of young people for drug abuse violations in 2007.
"Between 1990 and 1997, the juvenile arrest rate for drug abuse violations increased 145%. The rate declined 21% between 1997 and 2007, but the 2007 rate was still almost double the 1990 rate.
"Over the 1980–2007 period, the juvenile drug arrest rate for whites peaked in 1997 and then held relatively constant through 2007 (down 10%). In contrast, the rate for blacks peaked in 1995, then fell 49% by 2002. Despite the recent increase—23% since 2002—the rate in 2007 was 37% less than the 1995 peak."

"The 'School to Prison Pipeline' and similar concepts are used to describe how some youth are seemingly on a one-way path that begins with becoming disconnected with school, then continues to dropping out, and later entering the justice system. School policies that rely on overly punitive responses to student behavior and a reliance on law enforcement to address school discipline have led to increases in suspensions, expulsions, and referrals to the juvenile justice system for even minor infractions. As a result, students are taken out of school, missing important educational opportunities and, in some cases, made unable to return to school. The School to Prison Pipeline not only sends students directly into the justice system, but missed educational opportunities are linked to increased risk that a student will one day be involved in the justice system."

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention estimated that in 2007 there were 195,700 arrests of juveniles for drug abuse violations out of a total 2,180,500 juvenile arrests. By comparison, there were 97,100 violent crime index offense arrests and 419,000 property crime index offense arrests of juveniles that year.

"Table 9 provides the reported instances in each offense record in which the offenders were suspected of using alcohol, computers, and/or drugs.22 The data show that such use was minimal in situations occurring at schools during the 5-year study period. Of the 589,534 offense records, reports of offenders suspected of using drugs totaled 32,366, while reports of alcohol use totaled 5,844."

"The most common offense code reported in arrestee records was simple assault – a crime against persons, followed by drug/narcotic violations – a crime against society. These two arrest offense codes were reportedly associated with more than half (52.2 percent) of the total arrestees. Destruction/damage/vandalism of property accounted for a relatively small portion of arrestees (6.6 percent). All other larceny and burglary, both crimes against property, involved 5.8 and 5.0 percent of the arrestees, respectively. Each of the remaining arrest offense codes accounted for less than 5.0 percent of the arrestees. Note that the arrest code does not necessarily match an
y of the offense codes in an offense segment in the same incident."

According to the data on Table 10 of the report, there were 51,462 "Simple Assaults" and 43,294 "Drug/Narcotics Violations" reported by Schools and Colleges over the five year period from 2000-2004. Other violations during that time frame included 5,108 "Drug Equipment Violations", 594 "Liquor Law Violations", 202 for "Drunkenness", and 95 for "Driving Under the Influence".

"In 1980, there were an estimated 1,476 arrests of persons ages 10-12 for every 100,000 persons in this age group in the U.S. population. By 2003, this arrest rate had fallen to 1,296, a decline of 12%. In 1980, 9.5% of all juvenile arrests were arrests of persons under age 13; in 2003, this percentage had decreased to 8.5% -- with the majority of the decrease occurring during the mid-1990s."

"In contrast to the 1980-1993 period, the overall juvenile drug arrest rate increased by 77% in the short period between 1993 and 1997. Large increases were also seen in the rates of juvenile subgroups: male (72%), female (119%), white (109%), American Indian (160%), and Asian (105%). The black juvenile arrest rate for drug abuse violations, which had increased dramatically in the earlier period, increased an additional 25% between 1993 and 1997. Between 1997 and 2003, the juvenile drug arrest rate fell marginally (22%), with most of the overall decline attributable to a drop in arrests of blacks (41%) and males (24%)."